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Open Spectrum: Toward Ubiquitous Connectivity

Posted by michael on from the always-on-always-online dept.

obiwan2u writes "ACM's Queue magazine has a moderately dense article describing how new intelligent radios may free up under-utilized spectrum bandwidth, possibly providing solutions to the last mile bottleneck."

5 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. This will never happen by thinkliberty · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The FCC won't go for it. knowing Morse code is still a requirement to use HF ham bands, even though you can now use a computer to code/decode it. See www.nocode.org
    I can't think of one positive the FCC has done for RF bandwidth in a long time. Why would they start with this?

  2. Re:Last mile, what's it worth? by El · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yes, broadband IS a priorty in rural areas. I own a property for which it costs over $10,000 to run a cable to the house. I assure you, wireless broadband would be not only faster, but cheaper. (The best I can do there now is ISDN)

    --

    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

  3. This NEEDS to happen! by Got-Tea-Rolls · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Seriously, I live only 3 miles from the DSL limit and it angers me greatly. I have a crappy 24.4 connection. This would be great if I could be able to download stuff at highspeed. A few weeks ago I had to drive into town and go to a business of a friend to download a patch for Mac OSX that was 85mb. Satellite sucks, if this could eliminate the last mile problem that would be great.

  4. The myth of interference by xixax · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This reminds me of David Reed's idea that our current method of allocating chunks of the radio spectrum is as stupid as the idea of licencing colours.

    Xix.

    --
    "Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
  5. Test it in unlicensed spectrum first by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Open spectrum advocates can gain a lot of credibility by demonstrating techniques like SDR, cognitive radio, and mesh networking in the existing unlicensed bands. (The article mentions LocustWorld, which is a commendable example.) Once there's quantitative information on the benefit of the technology it will be appropriate to ask the FCC to reconsider the current spectrum policy.